COMMENT:

It is disappointing to see farmers back in the news with yet more issues with MPI over M. Bovis.

I mean on the one hand, we’re eradicating it and as MPI says, 'it’s a hard and never done before task'. So kudos for making gains there, but the process has been soul destroying for many farmers and their families.

It’s been described as everything from stressful to shambolic to life changing.

Many have just given up, sold up, and accepted life will never be the same again.

For many others though, the fight goes on, the battle to stay afloat, to get clear communication, to maintain some semblance of business.

Unsurprisingly lawyers are now involved, ironically yet another expense for already financially stretched farmers but desperation has driven many to enlist help.

One Canterbury based law firm has set up a dedicated team to assist farmers – especially with the more difficult cases – where compensation procedures have stalled, where mistakes by MPI have left farms in a state of no man's land.

Some farms have been stuck under a cloud of uncertainty for up to 18 months or more. That's too long.

Farmers have no control, they’re at the behest of MPI staff, who often times don’t have any understanding of farming issues.

I spoke to one of the partners yesterday at the law firm helping farmers, and asked her what more MPI could or should be doing. She said MPI needs to speed up its processes, show more consistency for farmers and give them some more certainty.

The high turnover of staff dealing with the response has also been a factor, she said, meaning farmers often get delayed and held up by having to repeat their information to a new staff member.

What disappoints me about this, is that I interviewed Agriculture & Biosecurity Minister, Damien O’Connor, a few weeks back, and I raised the many and varied issues farmers were having with him then.

To his credit he was aware of the issues he said, he was sorry for them, he acknowledged how tough it was for farmers. But he also said that changes were being made. That they were changing processes and working with staff. That they were improving their response.

When I asked the lawyer behind the team helping the farmers about this, and whether her clients had noticed any change, unfortunately the answer was no. She said the lack of consistency around stock valuations still exists, that the alleged new staff being employed was not evident, that the high turnover of staff still existed.

She said MPI getting to know the farmers and their situations would be helpful but it’s still not being done.

And that’s a great shame, because while it’s one thing to herald the eradication as a world first and a success, it’s quite another if in your wake is the collateral damage of not just stock, but also farmers.